FEDERAL Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch has congratulated the Inderbitzin family while officially opening their Next-Gen Compost Facility at Biboohra near Mareeba.
The Inderbitzin family are third generation farmers who originated from Switzerland before moving to the Atherton Tablelands in 1972 to establish a dairy business. Since then they have expanded to three farms, a variety of businesses and grown numerous crops from coffee beans to bananas under the banner Swiss Farms, based out of Lakeland.
They have now officially opened their latest venture, Shark Recyclers Next-Gen Compost Recycling Facility.
“It’s incredible to see how much the Inderbitizin family have achieved in such a short time. In the past 10 years they have been able to reduce the chemical use of fertilisers by 60 per cent which provides great cost and environmental benefits to the health of their soils and plants, and reduces chemical fertiliser runoff,” said Mr Entsch.
Using a Scarab composter Peter Inderbitzin is able to transform all his banana waste, other green waste, chicken manure and minerals into organic compost that revitalises his farm soil, improves water retention, and increases worm and microbial activity.
“Peter has told me from an environmental and sustainable farming perspective, moving from chemical fertilisers to compost is essential,” said Mr Entsch. “They can turn over 1,000 tonne of material every hour and produce A grade compost within 18-20 weeks.”
Next-Gen Compost was born from the Inderbitzin family’s passion for producing quality produce.
“Not only have the Inderbitizin family benefited from using compost for their own Swiss Farms, but they now produce it on a commercial scale and supply other farms,” said Mr Entsch.
“This is of enormous benefit to the whole region and will provide employment opportunities for Mareeba. As the use of this compost product increases we will see significant improvements in the quality of soil and production volumes.
“I applaud the ingenuity of the Inderbitizin family. They are producing a high quality organic product using local materials that is suitable for all soils from large-scale farms to small home gardens.”